Studia Ceranea 8, 2018, p. 121–137 ISSN: 2084-140X DOI: 10.18778/2084-140X.08.07 e-ISSN: 2449-8378 Matej Gogola (Bratislava) Prolegomena to the Christian Images Not Made by Human Hands mages not made by human hands (acheiropoietai) played a significant role I in Byzantine history as far as the emergence of local spiritual culture was con- cerned. However, a person not versed in Byzantine iconology and iconography, or in the ecclesiastical history of the Eastern rite as such, might find the phenomenon completely unfamiliar. The Greek term ἀχειροποίητος represents the opposite of the adjective χειροποίητος, which consists of two words – χείρ (‘hand’) and the verb ποιεῖν (‘to make, create’). The meaning is thus equivalent to ‘made by human hands’1. However, the prefix morpheme ἀ- reverses the semantics, so that ἀχει- ροποίητος can be literally translated as ‘not made by human hands’ / ‘not created by a human’. Since this interpretation overturned the meaning of the term com- pletely, icons (images) lost their label of objects of idolatry2. Images which were not created by a human acquired the status of images created by God, consequently becoming particularly important and revered artefacts3. The well-known German historian and art theorist Hans Belting defined the Greek term ἀχειροποίητος as referring to everything that had been created by God – including the human being, created in the image of God4. The concept of ‘not made by human hands’ is found already in the New Testament. Specifically, Paul explains in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians that at the moment of our 1 Cf. Mc 14, 58; Act 7, 48; Act 17, 24; Eph 2, 11; Heb 9, 11; Heb 9, 24. 2 E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder. Untersuchungen zur christlichen Legende, Leipzig 1899 [= TUGAL, 18], p. 357; E. Kitzinger, The Cult of Images in the Age be fore Iconoclasm, DOP 8, 1954, p. 143. 3 L. Brubaker, Conclusion: Image, Audience and Place: Interaction and Reproduction, [in:] The Sacred Image. East and West, ed. R. Ousterhout, L. Brubaker, Urbana 1995 [= IBS, 4], p. 214; cf. E. Kitzinger, The Cult…, p. 112–115; R. Cormack, Miraculous Icons in Byzantium and Their Powers, ArtC 76, 1988, p. 60; J. Trilling, The Image Not Made by Hands and the Byzantine Way of Seeing, [in:] The Holy Face and the Paradox of Representation. Papers from a Colloquium Held at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome and the Villa Spelman, Florence, 1996, ed. H.L. Kessler, G. Wolf, Bologna 1998, p. 109–127. 4 H. Belting, Bild und Kult. Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, München 1990; cf. E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder…, p. 37. And God created man in His image; in the image of God (εἰκόνα Θεοῦ) He created him; male and female He created them (Gn 1, 27). 122 Matej Gogola passing to the world beyond, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens – a Divine dwelling – awaits us (2Cor 5, 1). In the Gospel of Mark, Christ states that instead of the old temple, he is going to create a new temple not made with hands (Mc 14, 58). In this temple, there would be people circumcised by means of a circumcision not performed by human hands (Col 2, 11). The first known non-Biblical source to attest the adjectiveχειροποίητος is probably even older than the New Testament reference. Historians have dated the text in question – a papyrus letter from a certain Nearchos to Heliodoros5 – to the 1st or 2nd century AD. Having ventured up the Nile as far as to the town of Aswan, in the area of the first cataract, the author continued further towards the river’s source. Subsequently, he left the Nile and travelled westwards to the Oasis of Siwa in the Libyan Desert, where the oracle of Amon was allegedly located. One can assume that Nearchos encountered numerous sights during his journeys; in the letter, he describes his impressions to his friend. He uses the word χειροποίητος when praising the beauty of the art which he saw and which had been created by human hands6. Unfortunately, there is no example such as Nearchos’s impressions of his trav- els in Egypt as regards the term ἀχειροποίητος. To obtain a better understand- ing of the word ἀχειροποίητος – not only within the symbolic form of the Holy Scripture, but also as far as the source material is concerned – several ‘predeces- sors’ of images not made by human hands shall be introduced. Acheiropoietai can be found in sources from the second half of the 6th century onwards and have much in common with their pre-Christian ‘relatives’: their veneration was based, among other things, on the experience of worshipping images containing pagan motifs in the pre-Christian period. 5 Cf. the different dating by L. Mitteis, U. Wilcken, Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde, Hildesheim 1963, no. 117, p. 147–148 and Greek Papyri in the British Museum. Catalogue with Texts, vol. III, ed. F.G. Kenyon, H.I. Bell, Milano 1973, p. 205–206. 6 Νέαρχος α […῾Hλιοδώρῳ κα(ίρειν).] Πολλῶν τοῦ κα […] Καὶ μέχρι τοῦ πλεῖν ε.[…] μένον ἵνα τὰς χε[ι]ροπ[οι]ή[τους τέ] χνας ἱστορήσωσι ἐγὼ παρεπο[ιης]ά μεν καὶ ἀράμενος ἀνάπλο[υν καὶ π]αρ[α] γενόμενός τε εἴς τε Σοήνας καὶ ὅθεν τ[υγ]κά νει Νεῖλος ῥέον καὶ εἴς Λιβύην ὅπου ̓Άμμων πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις χρεσμῳδεῖ [καὶ] εὔτομα ἱστόρ[η]σα καὶ τῶν φίλων [ἐ]μ[ῶν τ]α ὀνόματα ἐνεχάραξα τοῖς ἱ[ε] ροῖς ἀειμνήςτως τὸ προσκύνημα The following two lines are erased ʽHλιοδώρῳ. See L. Mitteis, U. Wilcken, Grundzüge…, no. 117, p. 148. Prolegomena to the Christian Images Not Made by Human Hands 123 Images in the pre-Christian period Pre-Christian literature referred to several images which were ascribed a heav- enly origin. These were known as images of thediipetes type (Διιπετής, i.e. ‘fallen from Heaven’ or ‘sent by Zeus to the Earth’)7. The best known of such images was probably the Trojan palladion8 (Lat. palladium). It is a wooden carving of the goddess Athena, believed to have the ability of preventing the conquest of the city which kept the object within its walls9. The image was purported to wield immense power, and Athena became both the patroness and the protector of the city – ἐρυσίπτολις. Consequently, the Greeks did not manage to conquer the city while its protector was still present there10. Apart from Troy, the towns of Argos and Lindos were in possession of a palladion as well, although these palladia were believed to have been of human making – unlike the Trojan one11. The image of Artemis from Ephesus, carved in wood, is to be counted among the images of the diipetes type12. It is even mentioned in the New Testament: The city of Ephe- sus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven (Act 19, 35). The Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria owned an image of the ancient Egyptian god Serapis, created during the Ptolemaic reign in order to ensure a greater politi- cal and religious unity13. The god used to be depicted as man with a moustache, 7 H.G. Liddell, R. Scott, A Greek English Lexicon, Oxford 1883, p. 370. 8 Ernst von Dobschütz (Christusbilder…, p. 2) claims that the term παλλάδιον emerged from a Semitic source, specifically originating from Phoenician palat ‘to save, protect’. However, a more probable explanation is offered by Hjalmar Frisk, even though he states that the word’s etymology is actually unknown. Since the term spread throughout various languages and cultures, uncovering its exact past is not possible. It may be derived from παλλακή, which probably comes from Latin paelex, a concubine. Other meanings can be of a Semitic or Old Iranian origin. H. Frisk, Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, vol. II, Heidelberg 1970, p. 468–469. 9 Cf. F. Bennet, A Study of the Word Ξόανον, AJA 21, 1917, p. 8. Greek geographer, historian and philosopher Strabo (64 or 63 BC – 19–24 AD) mentions several types of these sculptures. Strabo, Geographica, IV, 1, 4; IV, 1, 5; VI, 1, 14, rec. A. Meineke, Lipsiae 1877; see also J. Papadopoulos, Xoana e sphyrelata. Testimonianza delle fonti scritte, Roma 1980, p. 15–65; M. Hurbanič, História a mýtus. Avarský útok na Konštantínopol roku 626 v legendách, Prešov 2010, p. 73; idem, Konstantinopol 626. Poslední bitva antiky, Praha 2016, p. 417. 10 E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder…, p. 3. 11 The Trojan palladion was kept in the main Athenian temple in the Acropolis, R. Hošek, Nábožen- ství antického Řecka, Praha 2004, p. 50. 12 Pausanias, Graeciae descriptio, I, 23, vol. I, Lipsiae 1829 (cetera: Pausanias), p. 9. Pausanias writes that Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, brought the image to Athens and later to Argos, Pausanias, I, 33, p. 1. Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, trans. R. Potter, London 1814, p. 1431–1464. The festivals of goddess Artemis were held every five years; on this occasion, five- to ten-year old girls wore saffron- dyed garments, representing she-bears through their dance, see R. Hošek, Náboženství…, p. 52. 13 D. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt. Assimilation and Resistance, Princeton–Chichester 1998, p. 169; H. Belting, In Search of Christ’s Body. Image or Imprint?, [in:] The Holy Face and the 124 Matej Gogola resembling Zeus. Apart from Alexandria, his cult was widespread not only in the cities of Memphis, Sabrata, Leptis Magna, Rome or Ephesus, but also in the Danu- bian provinces14. Thesepalladia provided the inhabitants of the respective cities with significant and unquestionable authority. The images were publicly worshipped during vari- ous processions. In other words, the diipetes – ‘fallen from heaven’ – were a sort of pagan predecessor of Christian images not made by human hands.